With an unusually unified run of three stars reviews, the starry production of Hay Fever at the Wyndham’s has critics split on whether Christine Baranski’s West End debut works, even as they line up behind the same verdict on the production as a whole.
Noël Coward’s Hay Fever, directed by Emily Burns, opened at Wyndham’s Theatre this week, with Richard E Grant returning to the West End after twenty years opposite Christine Baranski’s own West End debut as the self-dramatising Judith Bliss.
The verdict: With most critics awarding three stars, Hay Fever has engendered a rare run of consensus that masks a genuine split underneath it. Critics broadly agree the production is handsome, well cast around the edges and good value for an undemanding night out, but they can’t settle on whether Baranski has actually cracked the role at its centre, and there’s a sharper disagreement than the ratings suggest over whether Grant has, too.
Critics’ comparison
| Publication | Rating | The Key Takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Times | ★★★☆☆ | Baranski is magnetic, but the production never looks beneath its own performance |
| The Guardian | ★★★☆☆ | A fine cast let down by an oddly constrained lead |
| The Independent | ★★★☆☆ | The guests upstage the hosts in this handsome but minor revival |
| The Standard | ★★★☆☆ | Grant hams it up winningly; Baranski’s accent is the stranger choice |
| The Telegraph | ★★★☆☆ | Grant’s in his element, but Baranski hasn’t found the part yet |
| Time Out | ★★★☆☆ | A starry ensemble can’t quite disguise that the big name is the weak link |
| The Times | ★★★☆☆ | Good fun, if you can get past Baranski’s accent |
The reviews: what they loved about Hay Fever
- The guests outshine their hosts. Almost every review singles out the supporting cast as the real engine of the evening, and the biggest surprise within it is Lucy Karczewski, playing the gauche young flapper Jackie. Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski called her performance proof she’s “shaping up as a star of the future,” and the Independent went further still, arguing that “the biggest joy of the evening are this couple’s bewildered house guests” rather than the stars above the title.
- Richard E Grant, mostly. For most critics, Grant’s return after two decades away pays off handsomely. The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish found him “in his element as the scatty patriarch,” and the Times’s Dominic Maxwell described him as “disarmingly happy to be there.” It’s not quite unanimous, Time Out dissents sharply, see below, but it’s close.
The reviews: what fell flat for Hay Fever
- Christine Baranski’s accent splits the room. This is the one point every review engages with, and they don’t agree. The Guardian’s Emma John felt “a technically sound RP oddly constrains her,” and the Independent found she simply “mumbles her way through the central role.” But the Financial Times saw something else entirely in the same performance, calling it the work of “a good actor playing a bad actor who thinks she’s good,” praise dressed as a backhanded compliment that still amounts to one of the week’s warmest notices for her.
- A handsome revival that doesn’t try to be more than that. Several critics made peace with Hay Fever as comfort viewing rather than anything more ambitious, which is itself a kind of criticism. Time Out called it “glossy comfort theatre” running on “period comedy autopilot,” and the Financial Times concluded the production “remains as shallow as its characters,” unwilling to look past its own performance of itself.
- Grant isn’t safe from criticism either. Where most reviews praised Grant, Time Out broke ranks entirely, arguing the production “offers workmanlike support but no fireworks” from its biggest name, precisely the opposite of the consensus elsewhere.
The back story
Coward wrote Hay Fever in a reported three days in 1924, one of four plays he had running in the West End simultaneously at the height of his early fame. It premiered in 1925 to notices that found it amusing but plotless, and its first Broadway run flopped outright. A century of amateur and star-led revivals later, it’s become one of his most performed works, despite Coward himself calling it “far and away one of the most difficult plays to perform.”
The cast includes
- Judith Bliss: Christine Baranski
- David Bliss: Richard E Grant
- Sorel Bliss: Ophelia Lovibond
- Simon Bliss: Will Close
- Myra Arundel: Nancy Carroll
- Richard Greatham: Charles Edwards
- Jackie Coryton: Lucy Karczewski
- Sandy Tyrell: Ash Hunter
- Clara (the maid): Jo McInnes
The creative team includes
Directed by Emily Burns, with set and costume design by Frankie Bradshaw.
Where to see Hay Fever
- Venue: Wyndham’s Theatre, until 12 December 2026
- Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes, including interval
What are the critics saying about Hay Fever?
"Mostly, though, it’s Baranski’s show. She commands the stage like Judith does her household.... It’s cleverly done, this performance by a good actor playing a bad actor who thinks she’s good."
"Mostly, though, it chugs along in a pleasant and satisfying way."
"Grant is entertaining enough to watch, with nutty professor hair quivering on his head, and a childish giddiness at the games his family plays."
"the always reliable Charles Edwards makes awkward silence an art"
"This production is happy enough to be a diverting night at the theatre"
"Ophelia Lovibond’s Sorel who emerges as the most vital character"
"Frankie Bradshaw’s sumptuous set, with corniced ceilings and French windows"
"Richard E Grant... brings his trademark shock-haired vigour to the narcissist-novelist David"
"A technically sound RP oddly constrains her [Baranski]. Judith’s combination of pretend languor and genuine vagueness mean that jokes go begging and some lines land too earnestly"
"There is fun to be had in this starry revival of Noël Coward’s artfully pointless country house comedy."
"Christine Baranski’s distractingly creative English accent"
"The West End debut of the mighty Baranski...she gets in a mighty tangle with her grand dame routine."
"Charles Edwards is sublimely stiff in his tailored suits as the diplomat Richard."
"Emily Burns’s production gets more reliably spritzy as it goes along."
"It’s all enjoyable enough, and there are laughs to be had"
"The play still amuses, but it’s a patchy evening"
"While Grant is great fun, Baranski is serviceable rather than sensational"
" Baranski has the accent, but the natural wit, rhythmic clarity and domineering presence aren’t there yet."
"The supporting cast is largely very fine, especially Will Close as the insouciant, artistic-minded son, Lucy Karczewski as an excruciatingly gauche ingenue"
"A handsome, old-fashioned star vehicle for two great character actors and scene-stealers, Christine Baranski and Richard E. Grant."
"The lines are brittly witty, but the oomph comes from the fact it’s *Christine Baranski* saying them in her West End debut."
"She’s [Baranski's] stuck in a sort of strangulated, transatlantic Received Pronunciation... it doesn’t hurt Baranski’s comic timing...But it’s veeeery odd."
"Grant meanwhile, back on the London stage for the first time in 20 years, hams it up no end. Which, again, sort of works."
"Lovibond is deliciously pert as Sorel."
"Glossy comfort theatre. "
"Guesting American Christine Baranski brings a pleasingly doleful turn to reluctantly retired actress matriarch Judith Bliss"
"Charles Edwards is beautifully hapless and well meaning as Richard"
"the evening’s best and most original performance, Lucy Karczewski takes overwhelmed flapper Jackie (David’s guest) and puts her somewhere fairly high on the spectrum"
"It’s fun, but it won’t leave your eyes streaming. "
"Christine Baranski mumbles her way through the central role of flamboyant actress Judith Bliss, while Richard E Grantfades unexpectedly into the scenery as her grumpy husband David"
"The biggest joy of the evening are this couple’s bewildered house guests"
"[Baranski] doesn't own the stage in the way that the lady of this house needs to."
"Edwards is wonderfully restrained... the life visibly draining from his body as each potential topic of conversation is ruthlessly assassinated by the gauche Jackie. "
Wyndham's Theatre, London
Related News
11 Family-friendly shows to see in London this Christmas
Mischief Originals Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer crash back into the West End to join Christmas Carol Goes Wrong for two weeks
Christine Baranski on playing Judith Bliss in Hay Fever: “If this is my last play, it’s the perfect play to say okay, bye”
National Theatre Live announces new screenings for 2027 including Hay Fever with Christine Baranski and Richard E. Grant
Latest News
A jaunt through the history of panto: how a flexible theatre form transformed Britain’s Christmas theatre scene
Everything you need to know about West Side Story at the National Theatre
10 reasons we can’t wait for West Side Story
